00:00Well, being involved with Classic FM is a dream anyway.
00:03I've been on the station since 2013, so a long time.
00:07I love it.
00:08You know, it's the music I listened to as a kid
00:11and it's the music I perform as well.
00:14And now being able to share my passion, if you like,
00:18with the listeners every day of the week is going to be fantastic.
00:22You know, I'm always somebody who tries to present classical music
00:27in a popular way, really.
00:29I was very, very fortunate as a child to be brought up
00:32and go to school in North Wales,
00:34where music was always part of every day.
00:38You know, we'd start the day with singing
00:40and, you know, even maths and geography lessons,
00:43the teacher might bring the guitar out
00:44and sing some sort of tune that would help us learn.
00:48So music has always been a part of my life.
00:51And then, you know, being a chorister,
00:53you're introduced to amazing music
00:55and you're singing this amazing music day in, day out.
00:59And then, you know, I was very lucky as a kid
01:01to have these mad four years
01:04where I released 16 albums, travelled the world,
01:07sang everywhere from the Hollywood Bowl to the Vatican.
01:09And, yeah, you know, I was only ever trendy at school once
01:14and that's when I was on Spitting Image,
01:17I watched the satire show on a Sunday night
01:19and they had a little doll made up of me
01:21who unfortunately had curly hair and a South Whalian accent,
01:25but we don't go into that.
01:27But they basically had me recording, you know,
01:3132 albums in 10 minutes
01:33and it was a bit like that when I was a child,
01:34but it meant that I was introduced to so many
01:38fantastic pieces of music.
01:39And it's the music that we still play on Classic.
01:42You know, these are pieces that have stood the test of time
01:44and you do hear them in movies,
01:46you do hear them, you know, on stage in musicals and stuff.
01:49It's just great pieces of music
01:52that can thrill, that can move,
01:54you know, they can tap into every emotion.
01:56Music was always part of our upbringing.
01:58I remember waking up as a small child in North Wales
02:03and my mum and dad would always have the radio on
02:06on a Saturday and Sunday morning.
02:07You know, I've been very fortunate to work
02:08with amazing broadcasters over the years.
02:11You know, Terry Organ was a dear friend of mine.
02:14He was my radio dad.
02:14I was his radio son.
02:16And I learned such a huge amount from him, really.
02:20It's all about just being yourself and having fun, you know.
02:22And if you're doing that,
02:24everyone else is having fun as well.
02:27He was amazing.
02:29I had the, which he always used to say,
02:31the dubious honour of going on the Wogan show
02:34more than any other guest.
02:36So as a kid, I went on seven times in three years.
02:39And little did I know that, you know,
02:41he and I would have a great connection.
02:43You know, my biggest selling single
02:45is not Walking in the Air.
02:47It is Little Drummer Boy with Terry Wogan.
02:51Imagine that.
02:53You couldn't make it up, could you?
02:55But no, he was, he was for me,
02:56the greatest broadcaster that's ever lived.
02:58You know, it's as simple as that.
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